The name “Jason Harris” might not be a brand you know well, but the brands he’s been busy building are all bona fides you need to know. His clients include top-tier consumer names, like Ben & Jerry’s, Peloton, OkCupid, Charles Schwab and many more. As the co-founder and CEO of Mekanism, an award-winning creative advertising agency whose methods have been studied at Harvard Business School, Harris has tapped into an innate ability to persuade consumers. Harris shared his masteries when it comes to building brands in a new and complex era of media in his bestselling book The Soulful Art of Persuasion: The 11 Habits That Will Make Anyone a Master Influencer.
Part of his success is the way he leans into the idea of fierce entrepreneurship at Mekanism. “We like to hire people who are creatively entrepreneurial. We have this idea that the company was founded by entrepreneurs, and we want everyone who works here to have autonomy and feel like they’re entrepreneurial,” Harris says. “You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial….”
“This spirit is pervasive throughout the company…. It’s motivational, and it creates this layer of thinking that we empower you to be responsible and we’ll support you, but we’re not going to micromanage you. We want people to have the freedom to go after their work as if it’s their own.”
And day in and day out, that is how Harris operates. He shared a typical work day with SUCCESS®, from his absolute morning must-haves to his end-of-the-day indications. “Every day, I have three daily practices that are my personal imperatives: meditation, movement and reading. I try to do two in the morning and one at night,” he said. These bookend the core steps to Harris’ success at Mekanism.
7 A.M. – MOVE
Harris starts his day with discipline by working out, no matter what. “I have a trainer I train with, and I do yoga one day, weights one day, and boxing one day. And then, on my own, I do rowing or Peloton. It’s something different every day. If I don’t do the movement activity in the morning, it’ll never get done. It has to be the first thing I do,” he maintains.
8 A.M. – MEDITATE
After the movement activity, comes the time to sit perfectly still. Harris learned about meditation when he started working with the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, helping them with their brand identity, positioning and advertising. “To handle the stressful work, I’ve taken up daily meditation practice…. I started to incorporate that into my everyday routine,” Harris says. “It has had a really outsized difference in me managing my stressors and being more present.” After that, comes his shower, where he starts to mentally prepare for the day ahead of him.
10 A.M. – WORK FROM OFFICE
If there was any silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the new normal of workplace flexibility. So, even though Harris comes into Mekanism’s New York office every day, his staff is allowed to work from home three days a week. “Every day is different for me, but usually my first meeting is with someone on my leadership team. I have blocks of time for critical thinking, but most of my day is spent on Zoom or in-person meetings. I try to stack meetings from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., then I have the last few hours set aside for working.”
NOON – POWER THROUGH
Lunch hour? What’s that? It’s almost an archaic notion these days, and Harris is living proof. “I’ll usually have Sweetgreen ordered in. When I’m in the office, I want to power through the work, but I do love to [go out for] client lunches. When I do, I almost always go to Balthazar in SoHo,” he says of the classic Manhattan spot, his favorite near his office.
1 P.M. – CREATIVITY
Once you’ve worked your way up into the C-suite, you don’t always get the chance to do the things that led you there. But for Harris, being creative is still on his to-do list. “The place where I get to really be in the work is when we pitch new business, and that’s something I do a lot of—formulating our strategy, our ideas and the creative platform—all of which I’m heavily involved in. Once we have the account, then my job is to check in with [the] CMO or work with [the] team,” he explains. “Pitching new business is kind of the dream scenario, and the blue-sky thinking—that is the best part of the job. And that’s going on all the time. It’s part of every day. It’s constant.”
3 P.M. – ENGAGE
Social media—like it or not—has become a very necessary part of any entrepreneur’s career. And while some executives use it sporadically, Harris is committed to a more strategic approach. “I do a two-hour block a week. I write posts and create video content, and then work with my marketing team to edit and post all of that for the week ahead,” he says. The result is nearly 20,000 followers on Instagram alone.
5 P.M. – CHECK IN
All too often, the idea of being a mentor can be somewhat of an empty promise. It’s something you say and not necessarily something you actually do, but it’s important to Harris to follow through at every level of Mekanism. “Mentoring is one of the reasons why I spend the bulk of my time with the agency leadership team, along with one-on-ones I do with each person on that team and with everyone in the company throughout the year,” he says. “I want that holistic view of the company—not just the view of the company from the leaders.”
7 P.M. – WRAP UP
There was a time when Harris worked until the work was finished. It’s kind of that “you’re-done-when-you’re-done” mentality. But, now, he knows better. “By the end of the day, your to-do list is never finished,” he explains. “So, I try to wrap up my day based on the clock on the wall. I shut down by 7 p.m. I used to power through and keep going, but now I realize that’s not healthy.”
8 P.M. – THE READING CHAPTER
It’s a nonnegotiable, end-of-day routine for Harris. When he gets home from the office, he sits down with a book before he does anything else. “When I am done with the day, I have to read for at least 20 minutes. It is just personal reading and development. And then I can stream some shows and do something less productive. That’s my at-home immediate thing I do.”
Now, when Harris reflects on the success he’s had, he does so with an appreciation for the road that brought him here. “To be honest, I really like my job,” he says. “My favorite part is when I’m pitching a client, and I walk out super pumped about the team and the work and the chemistry. That’s when I’m reminded of the fact that I have been in business for 20-something years for a reason.”
Photo courtesy Jason Harris